Getting my Oil Filler, Oil Seperator, Air Filter, Spark Plugs replaced
 

I'm hoping people on this forum can help me. I have a 2001 Boxster. My oil seperator failed and my engine was burning oil whenever the car was on, not just startup.

I took it to the dealer and initially they estimated $700 to replace the oil seperator and the leak on my oil filler that caused the failure to begin with. After looking at it a bit more, they told me that oil had "gotten everywhere" and they'd have to flush my engine and replace my spark plugs, air filter, and something else that I cannot recall. New estimate is $1500.

There's no chance of me doing the repairs myself but I wanted to make sure this estimate seems reasonable. Any pros out there have an opinion?

I would suggest:

1) Buying the parts from www.sunsetporsche.com and take to an indy for the work. Save money on the parts and a lower labor rate vs dealership.


2) Send a Private Message )PM) to Forum member Randallneighbor, and possibly use his awesome indy guy, Hans. But, I don't know were you live in relationship to Randall

Well, I would've gone down this route except I don't really know any of the indies in town. I've heard some horror stories about independent "experts" from friends and decided not to chance it unless I had a personal connection to a place.

Any ideas if the dealer estimate is reasonable? I expect it to be somewhat inflated but is it just completely off?

The estimate sounds pretty high to me. I did the job myself and it was $200 for all parts from Sunset Porsche (oil separator, oil filler tube, spark plugs) and took me about 3 hours. Even at $200/hour that should only come out the $800 for the full deal. The separator itself was $150 and took me about 1.5 hours.

Quote:

Originally Posted by babybaby Any ideas if the dealer estimate is reasonable? I expect it to be somewhat inflated but is it just completely off?

Reasonable.... no way..................
but accurate based on book hours for each job individually:

AOS - $700
Plugs - $240
O&F - $240
Air Filter - $100
Oil Filler Tuber - $300

Most of these jobs can/are/should be done at same time which sh/would eliminate the duplicative book labor (opening engine cover, pulling rear wheels & liner, filler tube is easy w/ AOS out, etc.). However, I doubt the P-service book manual allots time reductions for multiple jobs as there are just too many variables....

In all sincerity, you could easily knock these projects out yourself (DIY) in no more than 4 hours time. Here are the part costs if you buy from Sunset:

AOS - $110
Plugs - $40
O&F - $90 (buy 10qts of oil locally - just filter & ring from Sunset)
Air Filter - $30 (takes 1 min to change once engine cover off)
Filler Tube - ??? (but can't imagine it's more than $75)

In my book, one scale of 1-10, here are the difficulty ratings for each:
AOS......3 (messy but not hard - equivalent to changing a light socket)
Plugs....5 (not overly hard but technical and tough to reach innermost plugs)
O&F......2 just need receptacle to hold 10Qt oil and dispose
Airfilter..-3 (yep minus 3 - that easy)
Fill Tube..5

If you have the time and desire to save about $1200 - do these jobs yourself. Search the archives here or PM me and I'll send you some links to most of these jobs. If not, then just tell the dealer ok to do and grab your ankles when you pick the car up :D

Otherwise, contact the local PCA and find a good indy in your area.